Niall Quinn believes winning the FA Cup is Louis van Gaal's only hope of keeping his job at Manchester United - and even that probably won't be enough.
The Sky Sports pundit was speaking after watching Tuesday night's 3-1 win over Bournemouth; a result which confirmed United will finish fifth and miss out on Champions League football for the second time in three seasons.
Van Gaal was booed by sections of Old Trafford when he addressed the crowd at the end of the match and Quinn says he will definitely be shown the door if he doesn't end his second season in charge with a win over Crystal Palace at Wembley on Saturday.
"He has shown determination and grit to at least bring the next trophy in to Old Trafford," he told Sky Sports.
"But whether he'll get time with the fans I'm not so sure. I guess he will go into the FA Cup final knowing it's an absolute 'must' game for him if he's to have any hope at all of carrying on.
"His fate is in other people's hands now and I'm surprised it's come to that. When he got this job I though he was the type of strong character that Manchester United needed.
"But what's gone out of Manchester United is the fear. Other clubs always feared them when you played them home and away and over the last three years it's been unbelievable.
"I didn't think in all my time in football that I would come to Old Trafford knowing that the away team probably fancied their chances. There's something systematic that's gone wrong over the period of time.
"Is he the person to suddenly change it around? I would have to say, hand on heart, no. It's too much of an ask now."
Quinn expects United to win the FA Cup and says that could prompt the board to give Van Gaal another chance. But he suspects commercial pressures could force them to look elsewhere.
He added: "It gives him a fighting chance because there will be a tougher decision to make at board level.
"I think you've two things going on here. You have the football side of the club which wants to continue and give their managers time. They've built dynasties here in the past.
"Then you have the commercial people involved and their view would be that they need to energise the football club again from the very top to carry on the commercial goals with no Champions League football.
"Do you think they can win the title next year and the year after that win the Champions League in the current set-up in the direction the current manager is bringing them on?
"That's the question the football people have to answer. They really need to get this decision right. This is a massive decision."